Not Just Japan: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy A few pointers for this panel.

Definitions Bibliography We are probably going to start our discussion with works Some initial listings; we're sure to think of many more. that fall close to Western definitions of "science fiction" and "fantasy", but we plan to branch out from there. Works from India & South Asian The Beast With Nine Billion Feet by Anil Menon. We don't want to restrict ourselves to the written word. Forthcoming from Zubaan books by Anil Menon Movies, manhua/manga/manhwa/comics and other media (who also has short stories published, including one are fine. at Strange Horizons). We aren't going to treat religious texts as fantasy, at least The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh. Won the not right away, because doing so can easily be culturally Arthur C. Clarke Award. insensitive. However, many of the works we're going to Diary of a Space Traveler by Satyajit Ray. Translated from talk about will be grounded in certain religions or myth the Bengali. The great film director also wrote YA SF traditions, so we may want to delve into the topic anyway. featuring the adventures and eccentricities of Professor Shonku. Issues “Early Bengali Science Fiction” by Amardeep Singh. A The first order of business is to introduce a slew of cool blog post that introduces the topic. Online at works to you, but along the way, we've got a lot of issues http://www.lehigh.edu/~amsp/2006/05/early-bengali- we'd like to discuss. What follows is just a sample; we're science-fiction.html. sure more will come up. Generation 14 by Priya Sarukkai Chhabri. A novel about a • Accessibility of knowledge and cultural appropriation: clone in a far future where memory and sexuality are This will probably be an overarching issue for the forbidden; but this clone remembers. Just out from panel, one we will come back to a lot. Zubaan books in New Delhi. Online: http://www.zubaanbooks.com/zubaan_books_details. • A related topic is translation. Are we only talking about asp?BookID=116. works in translation? Not everyone wants to learn The Kathasaritsagara or Ocean of Streams of stories. An 11th another language just to open their SF&F horizons – but century collection of fables, fairy tales and legends. learning another language is a very good thing. What Kleptomania by Manjula Padmanabhan. Published by about English works translated into Asian languages? Penguin India, this story collection includes three SF There's a lot of SF&F translated into Chinese, for stories; author has also written a play, Harvest, that is example. science-fictional. • Accessibility (or deniability of such) as privilege; The Mahabharata. One of the world's longest epic poems, culturally-based definitions of genres; and whatever this contains stories within stories but is mostly about else we think of. a great battle between the five Pandava brothers and • What issues that will affect Asia (global warming, their hundred throne-usurping cousins, the globalization, etc.) is Asian SF&F dealing with? Kauravas. Mosquito and Other Stories by Premendra Mitra. Translated • How are Asian creators redefining their own genres? from the Bengali, this collection of short fiction from • What genres exist in Asian literatures, and how closely the 1940's or so features this great Bengali writer's do they map to Western ones? best SF work. Introducing Ghanada, an older man living in a Kolkata hostelry who regales his young • If I consider ghosts, qi or reincarnation to be natural and fellow tenants with his adventures on far off worlds. you don't, and I create a work based on my beliefs, who Tongue-in-cheek and compelling. gets to decide if it is fantasy or not? Panchatantra tales. Mostly animal folktales, very ancient. The Ramayana. An ancient epic poem on the adventures of Rama, an avatar of the god Vishnu. A Shadow in Eternity and The Key of Chaos by Payal Dhar. Fantasy Foundation 奇幻基地. A web forum for people who YA fantasy novels about a girl called Maya who are into fantasy, including reading, writing, RPGs discovers that she has an important role to play in an and many other aspects. Online at alternate world. Again from Zubaan books. http://www.ffoundation.com.tw/modules/news/. Tales of the Future by Jayant Narlikar. Translated from the “Gaming in Taiwan”, by Rachel Kronick. An increasingly Marathi. Short stories from India's premier out-of-date set of links and resources for RPGs and astrophysicist. other gaming in Taiwan. Online at The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and other stories http://www.jiawen.net/gamingintaiwan.html. by Vandana Singh. Story collection forthcoming from 膜 紀大偉 Zubaan and Penguin India; most of these stories were Membrane , by Ji Dawei . A novel in which not published in anthologies and magazines in the US much happens; includes a lot of discussion of gender, and UK. Author's website at plastic surgery and the nature of identity. http://users.rcn.com/singhvan/. Nine Life Man 九命人 and Long Life Man 久命人 by A Tui Younguncle Comes to Town by Vandana Singh. From 阿推. A pair of manhua, lovingly drawn, about a man Zubaan in India and Viking in the US. Stories of an living sometime in the future who is sentenced by eccentric uncle and his nieces and nephew combating God to have nine lives. Very strange, funny and various forms of injustice with the help of animals good. and ghosts. “Science Fiction, Globalization, and the People's Republic Younguncle in the Himalayas by Vandana Singh. From of China”, by Lavie Tidhar. Discusses the history of Zubaan. Novel in which the mundane and SF in mainland China, including what topics are supernatural come together against the backdrop of a taboo and general market conditions. Online at rundown hotel in the Himalayas. http://www.concatenation.org/ articles/sf~china.html. Works from Korea Science Fiction World 科幻世界. A magazine that carries 2009: Lost Memories. An alternate history/uchronia movie original SF&F, translations, letters, etc. In print, and set in a Korea that never gained independence from online at http://www.sfw-cd.com/ (with an English Japan. site at http://en.sfw-cd.com/index.html). Also has a The Host 괴물. A movie in which a large mutated monster great online shop. plagues a family in Seoul. Anything by Ni Kuang 倪匡. He writes all kinds of things: Lineage II. One of the most successful MMORPGs ever. short stories with a Fortean bent (ghosts, UFOs, etc.), wuxia stories, adventure stories, erotica, etc. There Works from China, Taiwan & Hong Kong are dozens of volumes of his collected works. 2046. Directed by Wong Kar-Wai. An SF movie that's SF in a general sense; part of the movie takes place in the Other notes future. In typical Wong style, the movie is very “[Wiscon 2008] Not Just Japan: Asian Science Fiction and dreamy, ethereal and subtle. Fantasy”. Yoon Ha Lee's very good write-up of the The Bride with White Hair 白髮魔女傳. A movie, described panel. Online at by the director as a retelling of the Romeo and Juliet http://yhlee.livejournal.com/1141868.html. story. “Asian SF/F (not Japan)” by Joyce Tsai. Joyce's LJ post in The City Trilogy, by Chang Hsi-Kuo. Composed of three preparation for this panel. Includes tons of great books: Five Jade Disks, Defenders of the Dragon City and suggestions and discussion in the comments. Online Tale of a Feather. An epic tale dealing with oppression, at http://oyceter.livejournal.com/744610.html racism, revenge and war.